Title: The Wailing Lantern

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The moon hung high in the ink-black sky, its pale light barely piercing the thick fog that blanketed the village of Greymarsh. This village, nestled in a desolate swamp, was notorious for its superstitions. Travelers whispered of strange lights dancing in the marshes, eerie wails echoing through the night, and the infamous Wailing Lantern—a ghostly beacon said to lure the unwary to their doom.

No one had seen the lantern up close and lived to tell the tale, save for one—an elderly hermit named Cedric. His story, often dismissed as drunken rambling, was a warning he repeated to anyone who would listen: "The lantern’s light is death, but its whispers are worse. If you see it, run. If it speaks, cover your ears."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

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Chapter One: The Stranger in Greymarsh

The villagers had grown accustomed to their isolation, so when a cloaked stranger arrived at the inn one stormy evening, it caused quite the stir. He introduced himself as Elias, a scholar of the arcane seeking knowledge of the Wailing Lantern. His weathered journal, filled with sketches of strange symbols and diagrams, hinted at a lifetime of obsession.

"Fools' tales," spat the innkeeper as he poured Elias a mug of bitter ale. "A trick of the light in the marsh. Nothing more."

But Cedric, sitting in his usual dark corner of the inn, leaned forward, his gnarled hands trembling. "You'll find more than you bargain for, scholar. The lantern hungers. It takes the desperate and the curious alike."

Undeterred, Elias pressed for details. Cedric reluctantly shared a cryptic map, scrawled on brittle parchment, marking the location where the lantern was last seen. "Follow this if you must," Cedric warned, his voice low and shaky. "But pray the lantern doesn't follow you